James G. Neal Appointed Chair of the Corporate Partners Council of the International Federation of Library Associations

NEW YORK, January 14, 2004 - James Neal, Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian at Columbia University, has been appointed Chair of the Corporate Partners Council of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA).

IFLA is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. Founded in 1927, IFLA now has 1,700 association and institutional members in over 150 countries around the world.

The IFLA Corporate Partners Council was formed in 2001 as a forum for those companies that invest in the ongoing support of the global library organization to plan and evaluate the annual conference and exhibition and to build advocacy in the corporate community for the world’s libraries. The Council meets twice a year, at the annual IFLA conference and at the annual conference of the American Library Association. Neal will assume his responsibility as chair at the IFLA conference in Buenos Aires in August 2004.

Columbia University Libraries is one of the top ten academic library systems in the nation, with 9.2 million volumes, over 65,650 serials, as well as extensive collections of electronic resources, manuscripts, rare books, microforms, and other nonprint formats. The collections and services are organized into 25 libraries, supporting specific academic or professional disciplines. Columbia Libraries employs more than 400 professional and support staff to assist faculty, students, and researchers in their academic endeavors. The Libraries’ website at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/ is a gateway to its print and electronic collections and to its services.